Adventures of a Soldier, Written by Himself / Being the Memoirs of Edward Costello, K.S.F. Formerly a Non-Commissioned Officer in the Rifle Brigade, Late Captain in the British Legion, and Now One of the Wardens of the Tower of London; Comprising Narratives of the Campaigns in the Peninsula under the Duke of Wellington, and the Subsequent Civil Wars in Spain.

by Edward Costello

ADVENTURES OF A SOLDIER

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

BEING

THE MEMOIRS

OF

EDWARD COSTELLO, K.S.F.

FORMERLY A NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER IN THE RIFLE BRIGADE,

LATE CAPTAIN IN THE BRITISH LEGION, AND NOW ONE OF THE WARDENS OF

THE TOWER OF LONDON;

COMPRISING

NARRATIVES OF THE CAMPAIGNS IN THE PENINSULA UNDER THE

DUKE OF WELLINGTON,

AND THE SUBSEQUENT CIVIL WARS IN SPAIN.

What, must I tell it thee?

As o’er my ev’ning fire I musing sat

Some few days since, my mind’s eye backward turn’d

Upon the various changes I have pass’d—

How in my youth with gay attire allur’d,

And all the grand accoutrements of war,

I left my peaceful home: Then my first battles,

When clashing arms, and sights of blood were new:

Then all the after-chances of the war;

Ay, and that field, a well-fought field it was.

COUNT BASIL.

Second Edition.

LONDON:

COLBURN AND CO., PUBLISHERS,

GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.

1852.

LONDON:

Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street.

TO

GENERAL SIR A. F. BARNARD, K.C.B, K.C.H.

&c. &c. &c.

COLONEL OF THE RIFLE BRIGADE,

AND GOVERNOR OF CHELSEA COLLEGE,

THIS VOLUME

Is most respectfully Dedicated,

BY THE AUTHOR,

EDWARD COSTELLO.

PREFACE
TO
THE FIRST EDITION.

So many Lives of Soldiers have already been written, and by abler pens than mine, and so many tales have arisen out of the chequered scenes of the late Peninsular War, and the short existence of the British Legion, that I dare not be very sanguine of creating for my work any great degree of interest.

But every man’s life is a volume of change, felt and expressed according to his peculiar dispositions and feelings, which are as varied under a military as they can be under a civil life. Could the never to be forgotten Tom Crawley but give his own detail!—could Long Tom of Lincoln, once one of the smartest of our regiment, now the forlorn bone-picker of Knightsbridge, but pen his own eventful track—could Wilkie, Hetherington, Plunket, and many others of those humbler heroes, conquerors in such well-contested fields as Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, and Waterloo, &c., whose exploits form the principal attractions in this volume, and whose stubborn spirits and perforated bodies formed key-stones for the fame of our immortal Wellington, whose standard might have found a sandy support but for the individual bravery of the soldiers of his invincible divisions: could they but recount their varied casts of fortune—who would fail to read their histories and help to rear a cypress to their memories?

With these considerations, I send this volume forth, trusting that the reader will bear in mind that he who wrote it was both actor and spectator in the scenes he has narrated, and feels assured that by their perusal, he will be enabled to guess at what is generally felt and experienced by the individual soldier.

In the British Legion I held a medium rank. I saw not only what its soldiers were, but caught a glance at their officers: with them my military career flickered out its last moments of existence. Its brighter fortunes, short as they were, however, gave me sufficient opportunity to value those unfortunate men—my humbler comrades, and to be convinced by their deeds, that the British soldier, with sickness, oppression, the lash, and other distresses, still possessed his old spirit, and was as fitted to reap laurels as he had been in more glorious times.

EDWARD COSTELLO.